The campaign to boycott the company’s products, over 100 of which are produced in Egypt, was announced during a labor conference held
at the office of the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services
(CTUWS) on Friday. It is a response to the implementation of measures
which violate workers’ rights by the local administration.

According
to Ahmed Bakr, the secretary general of IFFCO’s local union committee,
27 workers have been barred from entering the company since police
forcefully dispersed a sit-in in early January. Among those sacked are
all nine members of the local union, including Bakr.

Workers
launched the sit-in to demand the augmentation of their wages in line
with increasing inflation rates, and the payment of overdue bonuses.

Bakr
told Mada Masr that prosecutors referred criminal charges of
instigating strike action to trial, “even though the right to strike is
protected by law, and is safeguarded in the Egyptian Constitution.”

Twenty one of the 27 workers stood trial
at the Suez Criminal Court for their involvement in the industrial
action, and were acquitted on Sunday. They described the verdict, which
has cleared them of any wrongdoing, as a victory which upholds their
rights as workers.

The privately owned United Arab Emirates-based
company, which produces oils, foodstuffs and other consumer goods, has
37 production plants worldwide. It is owned by the Allana family, listed
among the top five wealthiest Indian families in the Gulf Cooperation Council in 2016.

Regarding
the potential for the boycott to negatively affect wages of IFFCO
workers, Bakr said that his fellow workers are overwhelmingly in favor
of the campaign, until the rights of all employees and unionists are
restored.

He told Mada Masr: “The company is implementing punitive
measures against our coworkers, many of whom are afraid to speak up for
their rights, especially since the administration sacked the entire
union committee.”

According to Bakr, 200 striking workers, many of
whom were briefly arrested during the sit-in dispersal, were prevented
from entering company grounds until they signed an agreement with
administrators pledging to refrain from pursuing industrial action
again. “They were forced to sign these papers, and if they refused they
were threatened with the loss of their jobs.”

Additionally,
administrators at IFFCO’s branch in Suez claimed that the workers’
sit-in had cost the company LE4 million in losses, and accordingly
deducted LE500 from each of its 600 workers for going on strike.

The
workers have been demanding the reinstatement of the local union
committee, and the 27 employees who are currently prevented from
returning to their jobs at the company, he said.

The company’s administration could not be reached for comment.

In
addition to the alleged infringements on labor and union rights,
Mohamed Saeed, president of the local union committee, claimed that he
was blindfolded, threatened and summoned for questioning by National
Security Agency (NSA) officers in Suez regarding the strike.

He
said that during the strike, he was “told to return to the company, to
call off the strike, or return to the NSA to face subsequent measures
against me.” Saeed added that his apartment was repeatedly raided by
police forces.

The CTUWS’ legal consultant Rahma Refaat commented
that “boycott campaigns in Egypt may be more symbolic and promotional,
whereas they tend to be more successful abroad.”

She suggested that IFFCO’s workers “focus on a boycott centering on your most popular product. Fern Butter, for example.”

Bakr
asserted that the boycott is not an open-ended action against the
Allana family. “If our boycott does succeed in upholding workers’ rights
at the company, then we will call it off.”

The union has
requested international solidarity from labor unions and federations,
and consumer rights groups. He argued that an effective boycott campaign
in the UK or USA could have a great impact on IFFCO’s distribution
centers there, saying Allana and IFFCO “would be afraid to lose
customers and investments, or even afraid to have their name was
tarnished.”

Recent years have seen a crackdown
on industrial action in Egypt’s public and private sector, and the
state has increasingly turned to the deployment of security forces to
arrest workers and impose exceptional legal measures to punish those
detained.

The Trade Union Federation’s last elections were held in October and November 2006, although they were declared void
by an administrative court, as they were conducted without judicial
supervision. Despite the court verdicts, the leaders of the ETUF
remained in office from 2006 to 2011.

With the outbreak of the
2011 revolution against President Hosni Mubarak, the ETUF’s board was
dissolved, and a draft law was prepared under the caretaker minister of
manpower to replace the outdated 1976 Trade Union Law, which stated that
the only legally recognized labor federation in Egypt was the ETUF.

Parliament’s
manpower committee, which is dominated by ETUF members, voted to retain
the current leadership for 12 months, unless a new trade union law is
issued during this time, which would mean elections could take place.

MP and leading ETUF member Mohamed Wahballah told the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper that
a draft trade union law, along with other labor legislation, is
currently being discussed in parliament to encourage investment in
Egypt.

“The extension of the ETUF’s term from six months to a year
reveals that this governmental federation is merely working to keep
itself in power for the longest period of time possible, without having
to deal with votes or elections,” Talal Shokr, a member of the
Independent Union of Pensioners, told Mada Masr, adding, “It is also
striving to prepare a trade union law that maintains its privileges, and
that sidelines independent unions.”

If
the new legislation is passed, Shokr commented, Egypt will once again
be blacklisted by the International Labor Organization. The ILO declared
Egypt to be a state that violated international conventions on trade
union rights for many years. In April 2016, the ILO called on Egypt to stop repressing independent unions and uphold workers’ rights to freedom of association.

The Egyptian state voluntarily ratified the ILO’s conventions on freedom of association (Convention 87) and the right to organize (Convention 98) in the 1950s, but has since failed to uphold its provisions.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, “This atrocity, against
an innocent young researcher, must be fully investigated and the
perpetrators brought to justice. The heavy-handed tactics of Egypt’s
police, the string of disappearances in recent months and the mounting
repression of civil society show that President Sisi’s government is
heading in the wrong direction.

The prospects for fundamental democratic rights and freedoms,
including the right to freedom of association for the country’s workers,
are receding by the day. We call upon the government to change course,
to support and protect human rights and avoid yet more bloodshed and
the possibility of further mass unrest.”

Recent nationwide labor protests have found themselves confronted by
extraordinary measures of repression as the country continues to weather
economic struggles, austerity measures and rising inflation.

The
Egyptian government has deployed security forces to quash any suggestion
of labor action in the public or private sector, arresting workers and
subsequently imposing exceptional legal measures to punish those
detained.

Since 2016, the state has increasingly moved toward suppressing labor protests. According to an annual report published
by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), there
were 726 labor protests over workplace demands, claims of administrative
mismanagement and corruption in 2016. These protests have particularly
been driven by grievances over working conditions and demands for
increased wages and bonuses in light of recent economic reform policies.

However, the ECESR report also noted that 2016 saw a decline in the total number of labor protests compared to 2015, in which there were 933 labor protests. In 2014, there were 1,609 labor protests, while, in 2013, there were 2,239.

The state’s crackdown has prompted solidarity campaigns and petitions — in Egypt and abroad —
demanding that the criminal charges against dozens of workers be
dropped. Addressed to executive authorities, the petitions have been signed by hundreds of rights workers, labor unions and federations, denouncing the deployment of security forces to suppress protesting workers.

According to a report
issued by the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS),
security forces have forcibly dispersed seven labor protests over the
past year, while 28 workers have been prosecuted and nine others are
standing trial. The report adds that corporations have also dismissed
271 workers, union members and labor leaders due to their involvement in
labor action.

The state’s initial response to a potential problem in the cog of military production — the Alexandria Shipyard Company has been managed by the Defense Ministry since 2007 —
was particularly extreme, Awwad says, as the workers had not forced a
work stoppage but had organized a sit-in on May 23 and 24, 2016. They
were demanding an increase in salary to align with the national minimum
wage, payment of overdue bonuses and for work at stalled production
lines to recommence.

Military police forces were deployed to the
shipyard on May 24, where they surrounded the workers’ sit-in.

Of
the Alexandria Shipyard Company’s 2,300 workers, some 1,200 have still
not been allowed to recommence work with the company since its
management imposed a lockout on May 24
and therefore cannot collect their full salary. Awwad says that 32
workers, including the 26 standing trial, remain barred from entering
the company’s premises. The state has also moved to force 19 of the
workers standing trial to tender their resignations in exchange for
bail.

“There is increasing pressure from military officials upon the remaining workers to submit their resignations,” says Awwad.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AUTHORITY WORKERS

Another
significant case centers on the ongoing trial of six Public Transport
Authority (PTA) workers who had planned to strike on September 24, the
first day of the academic year, but were arrested in dawn raids.

The
public bus drivers had prepared to strike to demand increased bonuses
and for the PTA to be placed under the authority of the Transportation
Ministry.

The six PTA workers were jailed and are being prosecuted
on charges of inciting unrest within a state institution, instigating
protests against the state, obstructing public transport, forming a
terrorist cell within the PTA and belonging to an outlawed organization,
a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.
After being detained for
over three months, four of the six workers were released on bail, while
two remain jailed in Tora Prison pending investigations.

“My
father was arrested at home,” says Seif, the son of jailed PTA worker
Abdel Khaleq. “They came for him even though the strike never took
place. There wasn’t even a protest. Why is my father in prison when
strikes are a legitimate and legally stipulated right?”

IFFCO OILS COMPANY

The
latest crackdown took place in the Suez Governorate on January 2, when
police forcefully dispersed a sit-in at the privately owned IFFCO Oils Company, a subsidiary of the Dubai-based IFFCO Group, arresting scores of workers, 21 of whom are now standing trial for “instigating a strike,” while two remain jailed pending investigations.

Security forces were deployed in response to a complaint filed at the local police station
in which the company’s management accused the workers of striking and
obstructing production, a charge which is increasingly being leveled
against workers who embark on industrial action.

Seoud Omar,
a Suez-based trade unionist and regional labor organizer, says these
kinds of industrial action are staged over “‘bread and butter”’ issues
and are typically apolitical in nature. “Labor strikes are not criminal
actions,” he asserts. “There is no terrorism, political conspiracy, or
plots against the ruling regime in these non-violent labor protests.”

While
Omar has seen violence used to suppress labor movements in the past,
the recent developments add a new dimension. “The use of violence on the
part of Ministry of Interior is not new,” he says. “But the increased
use of its police forces in so many different locations is.”

Omar
argues that “police are clearly acting on behalf of business interests
and against workers’ basic rights,” a fact, he argues, is clearly
illustrated in the raid of the IFFCO Oils Company.

Ahmed Bakr, the
secretary general of the Independent Union of IFFCO Employees, says
that since January 2, 27 workers have been barred from entering the
company, of which 21 are standing trial, including all nine elected
members of the company’s trade union committee. Bakr himself is among
those facing prosecution.

The initial court hearing before the Suez Criminal Court is scheduled for January 29,
which is the same day that the court is expected to issue a verdict in
the case. Bakr calls this unprecedented, asking why he and his
co-workers are not being granted an opportunity to defend themselves in
court. “It appears that the authorities are sending a message that they
won’t tolerate strikes or any labor union organization in the Suez
area.”

According to Bakr, the crackdown was not limited to the 12
workers arrested at the factory, as security forces arrested three
others in dawn raids. He adds that several of his co-workers were
interrogated by National Security Agency representatives.

“Are
protests over bonuses now a threat to national security?” he asks. “We
were arrested and are now on trial like criminals because we exercised
our legally protected rights.”

EGYPTIAN FERTILIZERS COMPANY

Another notable security crackdown took place on December 5, when police raided the Egyptian Fertilizers Company (EFC) and Egyptian Basic Industries Corporation (EBIC), both of which are owned by business magnate Nassif Sawiris — Egypt’s richest man, worth an estimated $US6.1 billion.

Workers at both of Sawiris’ fertilizer companies were striking to demand higher wages in light of the flotation and devaluation of the Egyptian pound.
The coordinated police raids resulted in the arrests of around 200
striking workers, who were released within hours. Two other EFC workers
were taken to Attaqa Police Station and released the following day after
paying LE 10,000 bail each. A total of six EFC workers — all of whom
have been sacked in light of this strike — will appear before the Suez
Criminal Court on January 28 on charges of “instigating a strike” and “halting production.”

Following
the forced dispersal of these strikes, a half-page notice was published
in the December 25 issue of the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper under
the headline, “Message of thanks and appreciation from workers at EFC.”
The notice asserted that, “all workers at the Egyptian Fertilizers
Company express their utmost sorrow and pain regarding recent
incidents,” a reference to the strike. “Workers consider themselves to
be strategic partners with the owners of capital.”

Yasser
al-Geneidy, who was arrested in the raid, points out that he wrote this
apology together with a co-worker, under pressure from company
administrators. “We were told to formulate this apology as a
precondition to being reinstated,” he says.

A management official is said to have paid for this ad, which cost around LE133,000.
“Many workers objected to the wording of the statement, but we did so
in hopes of keeping our jobs,” according to Geneidy. “We have apologized
but have not been reinstated, and now we are standing trial.”

Geneidy concludes, “Nassif [Sawiris] is much bigger and stronger than us. What can you do with a billionaire who is actually helping to fund the state? Who do you think they are going to side with?”

Omar
predicts that rising inflation rates and stagnating wages, coupled with
the state’s austerity measures and crackdown on workers’ protests, will
result in significant labor unrest across Egypt.

“Take it from
me,” Omar says. “After all these years in the labor movement, I can
safely tell you that there will be a massive wave of worker protests
affecting the country soon.”
___
*Seoud Omar passed away just a few days after Mada Masr conducted this interview with him.

Egypt's National Defense Council has extended military
participation in Saudi-led operation in Yemen. The first US drone strike
believed to be carried out under Trump presidency has also killed two Al-Qaeda members.

Sunday 22, January 2017

Cairo announced in a statement on Sunday, that Egypt's military
participation in a Saudi-led operation in Yemen has been extended by the
presidency.

"The National Defense Council agreed during the
meeting to extend the participation of the required elements from the
Egyptian armed forces in a combat operation outside the nation's border
to defend Egyptian and Arab national security in the Gulf, Red Sea, and
Bab al-Mandab areas," the statement said.

The presidency failed to disclose, however, exactly how long the extension would be for.

ALMOST 70 DEATHS IN 24 HOURS

The
announcement on Sunday came as medics and security sources confirmed
that 66 people had been killed in Yemen in 24 hours. The fatalities
occurred as forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi pushed forward in their efforts to oust rebels from a key west coastline.

Air
strikes carried out by a Saudi-led coalition, as well as fighting near
the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait killed at least 52 fighters belonging
to the Shiite Huthi rebels and allied troops loyal to ex-president Ali
Abdullah Saleh.

On the pro-government side, 14 soldiers were
killed and 22 wounded, according to medics in the southern port city of
Aden where Hadi's government is based.

Pro-Hadi forces launched the huge offensive to retake the region
overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait on January 7. The channel is a key
maritime route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

By
Sunday, loyalist forces reported that they were within 10 kilometers (6
miles) of the city of Mokha, but the offensive was slowed by mines laid
by rebel forces.

REPORTS OF FIRST TRUMP DRONE

Two
suspected members of al Qaeda's Yemen branch were also killed on Sunday
by what local officials believe was a US drone strike.

If confirmed, it would be the first such attack since Donald Trump assumed office as US president on Friday.

According
to officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the men were killed
when a missile hit their vehicle in the southern al-Bayda province.

In
a bid to combat al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - regarded as one of
the global militant group's most dangerous branches - the US
controversially conducted dozens of drone strikes throughout Barack
Obama's presidency. The attacks were repeatedly criticized by human
rights groups, however, following the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

The
newly-inaugurated Trump administration is yet to lay out a clear policy
on drone strikes. However the Republican president has said he would
support an escalation of the fight against Islamist militants.

Italy’s Parliament has announced it will host an event for the
campaign working to establish a scholarship fund in the name of slain
researcher Giulio Regeni, which would allow an Egyptian student to study at the United World College (UWC) of the Adriatic to obtain the two-year International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma.

The campaign
organizers have told Mada Masr that they will launch their fundraising
efforts during the parliamentary event, relying on crowdfunding to
supply the necessary money for the 2018 scholarship and a matching funds
program through which institutions and corporations can donate money
to ensure the scholarship’s continuation.

Regeni, the 28-year-old
student whose body was found in a ditch in a Cairo suburb on February 3,
2016 exhibiting signs of torture, studied at UWC-USA in New Mexico.

The
idea was suggested by Regeni’s former UWC-USA classmates, Federico
Torracchi and Lorenzo Bartolucci, according to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

The
scholarship fund “sends a message that counters hatred,” Bartolucci
told La Repubblica. “Giulio wanted to improve people’s lives. We want to
remind people about who he was and what he did before he died.”

Regeni, a
Cambridge University doctoral student, was researching labor issues and
writing his PhD dissertation on Egypt’s independent trade union
movement. He was conducting field research in Egypt through a one-year
visiting scholar program at the American University in Cairo. He
went missing on January 25, 2016, as he was traveling from his
apartment in Cairo’s Dokki neighborhood in the direction of Tahrir
Square amid a heavy security presence for the fifth anniversary of the
January 25 revolution.

Regeni’s body was found bearing signs of
torture, evident from cigarette burns, cuts, bruises and his de-nailed
fingers — all hallmarks of Egyptian security forces’ torture practices.
However, Egypt’s Interior Ministry has repeatedly denied responsibility
for his torture and death and sought to distance themselves from the
case, causing strained diplomatic relations between Egypt and Italy.

The initial police investigations to
emerge from Egypt claimed that Regeni had died in a traffic accident,
despite subsequent autopsy reports, which confirmed he was tortured over
a period of several days.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry later claimed
security forces had shot and killed five members of a gang that it
claimed often stole the identities of foreign nations and with whom
Regeni’s personal belongings were allegedly found. However, the family
members of the five men strongly denied these claims.

Italian
politicians and investigators have persistently urged Egyptian
authorities to hand over all evidence concerning the case, and to
cooperate more fully on ascertaining details concerning his death.

United World Colleges has played a prominent role in providing Egyptian students with education opportunities for the last 30 years.

The funeral service for Seoud Omar,
a prominent Egyptian labor activist and an organizer in the Suez
independent trade union movement who died in a traffic accident on
January 13, was held in Suez City on Saturday.

The
accident occurred on the road to Suez City, where Omar was returning
after speaking hours earlier at a Cairo event organized by the “3ayzen Ne3esh” (We Want to Live) campaign.

Omar
had long worked to pry the labor movement away from the grip of the
state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation, which has monopolized
labor action for long stretches since the union was established in 1957.
He also played an important advisory role in organizing protests in
seven Suez Canal Authority-affiliate companies during the 2011 popular
uprising against the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.

In late
2013, he was involved
in the launch of the Thowwar Front (Revolutionaries Front) alongside
other members of the Egyptian political sphere aiming to continue the
goals of the January 25 revolution and move beyond the political duality
of the moment that was centered on support for either the Muslim
Brotherhood or the military.

The Suez City funeral attracted over
1,000 people, according to journalist Mostafa Bassiouny, who attended
the service and called Omar an “exceptional labor leader.” Workers,
political leaders and members of civil society, trade unions and
professional syndicates traveled from governorates across Egypt to pay
their respects to Omar.

After news of Omar’s death was announced, Egyptian television shows and news outlets
highlighted the 55-year-old Suez Canal Authority employee’s lifetime
achievements, while a number of political parties and organizations
similarly issued statements of tribute.

Galal al-Gizawy – a Suez
Canal Authority employee in Port Said City who worked with Omar and had
been a member alongside him in the leftist Tagammu Party since the 1980s
before leaving in 2005 due to disagreements over the party’s policies
and leadership – called Omar “an exemplary socialist activist and a
pivotal actor in promoting union consciousness among workers.” He also
emphasized that Omar, who held a law degree, played an important role in
providing legal advise to workers during the 2011 labor protests that
coincided with popular movements against the Mubarak government.

“We
have lost Seoud Omar and the labor movement feels this loss,” Gizawy
said. “He leaves us with a new lot of workers and unionists who were
inspired by his example. He may have passed away, but his memory will
remain very much alive with us.”

Gizawi added that Omar was: “A dear
friend. He was a cheerful, honest, and kindhearted man, who was constantly
smiling. A smile that cannot be forgotten.”

Ahmed
Bakr, a worker at the IFFCO Oils Company in Suez, stated that Omar had
helped him and his coworkers to organize their local factory union, and
that he was a labor-rights “mentor” to many Egyptian workers.

Omar
was instrumental in the 2011 founding of the loose association of
independent labor organizations known as the Suez Federation of Unions,
Bakr added. The IFFCO Oils Company Company Union in addition to cement,
textile, steel, ceramic, petroleum, longshoresmen, food processing and
transportation unions were brought under the wider banner provided by
the federation.

The labor leader also mounted two unsuccessful
bids for parliamentary election, once in 2010 and another after the
January 25 revolution.

Social media users expressed their condolences for Omar using the Arabic language hashtag Seoud Omar.

In
an interview conducted with Mada Masr one week before his death, Omar
predicted that rising inflation rates and stagnating wages, coupled with
the government’s austerity measures and crackdown on workers’ protests,
would result in significant labor unrest across Egypt.

“Take it
from me,” Omar said. “After all these years in the labor movement, I can
safely tell you that there will be a massive wave of workers’ protests
affecting the country soon.”

A new report by Oxfam warns of the growing and dangerous concentration of wealth

Monday 16, January 2017

The world’s eight richest billionaires control the same wealth
between them as the poorest half of the globe’s population, according to
a charity warning of an ever-increasing and dangerous concentration of
wealth.

In a report published to coincide with the start of the week-long World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam
said it was “beyond grotesque” that a handful of rich men headed by the
Microsoft founder Bill Gates are worth $426bn (£350bn), equivalent to
the wealth of 3.6 billion people.

The development charity called for a new economic model to reverse an
inequality trend that it said helped to explain Brexit and Donald
Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

Oxfam
blamed rising inequality on aggressive wage restraint, tax dodging and
the squeezing of producers by companies, adding that businesses were too
focused on delivering ever-higher returns to wealthy owners and top
executives.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) said last week that rising inequality and social polarisation posed two of the biggest risks to the global economy in 2017 and could result in the rolling back of globalisation.

Oxfam said the world’s poorest 50% owned the same in assets as the
$426bn owned by a group headed by Gates, Amancio Ortega, the founder of
the Spanish fashion chain Zara, and Warren Buffett, the renowned investor and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.

The others are Carlos Slim Helú: the Mexican telecoms tycoon and
owner of conglomerate Grupo Carso; Jeff Bezos: the founder of Amazon;
Mark Zuckerberg: the founder of Facebook; Larry Ellison, chief executive
of US tech firm Oracle; and Michael Bloomberg; a former mayor of New
York and founder and owner of the Bloomberg news and financial
information service.

With members of the forum due to arrive on Monday in Switzerland, where guests will range from the Chinese president Xi Jinping,
to pop star Shakira, the WEF released its own inclusive growth and
development report in which it said median income had fallen by an
average of 2.4% between 2008 and 2013 across 26 advanced nations.

Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark filled the top
five places in the WEF’s inclusive development index, with Britain 21st
and the US 23rd. The body that organises the Davos event said rising inequality was not an “iron law of capitalism”, but a matter of making the right policy choices.

The WEF report found that 51% of the 103 countries for which data was
available saw their inclusive development index scores decline over the
past five years, “attesting to the legitimacy of public concern and the
challenge facing policymakers regarding the difficulty of translating
economic growth into broad social progress.”

Basing its research on the Forbes rich list and data provided by investment bank Credit Suisse, Oxfam said the vast majority of people in the bottom half of the world’s
population were facing a daily struggle to survive, with 70% of them
living in low-income countries.

It was four years since the WEF had first identified inequality as a
threat to social stability, but that the gap between rich and poor has
continued to widen, Oxfam added.

“From Brexit to the success of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, a
worrying rise in racism and the widespread disillusionment with
mainstream politics, there are increasing signs that more and more
people in rich countries are no longer willing to tolerate the status
quo,” the report said.

The charity said new information had shown that poor people in China
and India owned even fewer assets than previously thought, making the
wealth gap more pronounced than it thought a year ago, when it announced
that 62 billionaires owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the global population.

Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB, said:“This
year’s snapshot of inequality is clearer, more accurate and more
shocking than ever before. It is beyond grotesque that a group of men
who could easily fit in a single golf buggy own more than the poorest
half of humanity.

“While one in nine people on the planet will go to bed hungry
tonight, a small handful of billionaires have so much wealth they would
need several lifetimes to spend it. The fact that a super-rich elite are
able to prosper at the expense of the rest of us at home and overseas
shows how warped our economy has become.”

Mark Littlewood, director general at the Institute of Economic
Affairs thinktank, said: “Once again Oxfam have come out with a report
that demonizes capitalism, conveniently skimming over the fact that free
markets have helped over 100 million people rise out of poverty in the
last year alone.”

The Oxfam report added that since 2015 the richest 1% has owned more
wealth than the rest of the planet. It said that over the next 20 years,
500 people will hand over $2.1tn to their heirs – a sum larger than the
annual GDP of India, a country with 1.3 billion people. Between 1988
and 2011 the incomes of the poorest 10% increased by just $65, while the
incomes of the richest 1% grew by $11,800 – 182 times as much.

Oxfam called for fundamental change to ensure that economies worked for everyone, not just “a privileged few.”